[Guide] If <this> is <that> for <#> seconds - Trigger Commandbrowsing

As we move deeper and deeper into Advanced Home Automation it becomes important that we can handle "context" in a way that can be effective and meaningful. What does that mean? Well, it means that our system needs to know how to handle any situation based upon the environment.

So - oh the doors unlocked ... were they supposed to? Is anyone home? Are they out of the state and the home thinks they are on vacation? What time is it? What is the temperature? How long has it been since someone last unlocked the door? In what situation did they unlock the door at that time? What state was the house in when people left? What state is the house in now? Is the security system armed? Did it go off? Why not? Did the entry way detect occupancy shortly thereafter? For how long? Where did the person go next? Upstairs? Did they enter the bedroom? How long were they there?

Ok, I just rambled on there but you get the idea, it's all about intelligence. Dash React provides a means of acting upon the intelligence you provide the system based upon the device you configure and install through your integrations.

The For Variable ... Listener

The "For Variable ..." Listener allows us to indicate that we would like a specified event to occur should the parameters we provide match for the given time consecutively. Lets look at some possible examples written in plain english:

If the garage door stays open for 10 minutes
If the front door was left unlocked for 10 minutes
If the user has been away from the home for 6 hours
If the Xbox has been in use for 3 Hours
If the Projector has been on but theater unoccupied for 2 hours

Dash React provides a mechanism to program this type of logic into your systems in literally seconds. We used to accomplish this with Device Event Triggers by building a few commands on top of each other. This takes a lot of that away and makes it a single command built directly into our programming process with React.